Bath & North East Somerset Council has announced that the A431 Kelston Road will officially reopen at 6am on Monday 17th November, following extensive repair work.
The reopening follows months of exhaustive work to permanently repair damage caused by a severe landslip which closed the road in February.
The Council – working with its highways contractor Skanska – has been able to complete the mammoth repair and ground stabilisation works before Christmas, as promised from the start, meaning vehicles can freely use the A431 between Bath and Bristol without disruption.
The Council Leader, Cabinet Member for Transport and local ward councillors will join members of the local community and the team from Skanska to officially reopen the road on the Kelston Park side at 6am on Monday morning, and let the first vehicles through.
Bus services will resume their normal routes soon afterwards and the first bus through will be the 6.20am from Bath on service 319.
Councillor Paul Crossley (Lib-Dem, Southdown), Leader of Council, said: “We’re absolutely delighted to be re-opening the road on Monday 17 November – we promised local people that we would achieve this before Christmas, and we’re incredibly proud of all our officers and contractors who have pulled out all the stops to achieve this monumental task.
“Bath & North East Somerset Council’s priority has always been to achieve a permanent solution to this problem.”
The landslip repair work and rebuilding of Kelston Road has been a huge project for the Council and its highway maintenance contractor Skanska.
It has cost in the region of £2.6 million and involved drilling concrete piles down as far as 15 metres below the existing ground surface to stabilise the land and support the new road.
Councillor Caroline Roberts (Lib-Dem, Newbridge), Cabinet Member for Transport, said: “We have had every sympathy with road users, bus passengers, residents and businesses that have been affected by the Kelston Road closure.
“Our dedicated team has worked tirelessly to ensure that the repair works carried out have been as effective, efficient and practical as possible – and they should be commended for their remarkable work.
“We are also delighted that as part of this project we have brought forward plans by over a year to improve the road surface in Kelston village.”
Bath businessman Mike Watts, who built a private toll road through a Kelston field, is expected to make back his investment. The toll road is now expected to close following the reopening of the A431.
A new video showing the challenges faced and the final stages of building the new road can be found at www.bathnes.gov.uk/kelston.
This latest film features time-lapse photography illustrating how the crews have been working solidly – even through the recent severe weather conditions resulting from Hurricane Gonzalo.
